NYC fans mourn with telecast of Michael Jackson memorial

As the celebrity tributes and musical homages reached a fever pitch on the West Coast during Tuesday's Michael Jackson memorial in Los Angeles, New York fans watched from afar, deep in their own memories.

In Harlem, fans gathered outside the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, in front of a giant inflatable television screen measuring 16 feet by 9 feet that broadcast NBC's coverage of the memorial.

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Though she was too young to remember the details, Renee Harrison, 45, of Harlem, said she went with her family to the Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater, where the Jackson 5 began their rise to stardom. "He was like family to me," she said.

Yvette Russell, 38, of Harlem, sobbed and wiped her eyes during a Stevie Wonder performance. Russell, an after-school program director on her lunch break, considered Jackson's death among the pivotal moments in recent African-American history.

"I came out for [the election of President] Obama, I came out for James Brown [who died in 2006]. There was no way I was going to miss Michael Jackson," Russell said.

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She treasures her "Thriller" album. "I got it for Christmas and I never opened it. I planned on opening it for my birthday and time just passed by and days turned into months and then years," she said.

In Times Square, hundreds of viewers quietly watched the memorial on huge screens surrounding the pedestrian area, as others did on large screens elsewhere in the city.